[techtalk] netware vs. linux..?

[James A. Sutherland]

On Wed, 21 Mar 2001, Walt wrote:

> I know NetWare isn't much in the headlines these days, but how does it
> really perform?

Extremely well when properly configured: matching Netware's performance
under Linux takes some heavy duty kernel hacking and a LOT of extra work.
Jeff Merkey (formerly of Novell) has been doing a lot of work on this
through his company Timpanogas.

> I know some people running a system with about 500 users and it
> constantly seems to be having trouble. Obviously I don't have nearly
> as many users, but they're pros and I'm a newbie and I have better
> trouble-free uptime than they do...

Interesting; usually, a properly configured Netware system will sit in a
corner under any load for months or even years without interruption. I
worked for a couple of years as a Unix admin in a mostly Netware driven
shop, and the production Netware servers only went down for hardware
failures; uptimes of over a year were common on those systems!

> Just wondering if someone else there has comparative experience on
> Netware.

It sounds as if they either need new hardware or new admins...


James.